Herbicidal weed management options for pigeon pea(Cajanus cajan) grown in southeastern Rajasthan

A field experiment was carried out during the kharif seasons of 2020–21, 2021–22 and 2022–23 at Kota, Rajasthan, to study the effect of post-emergence herbicides on productivity of pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp]. The results indicated that the minimum weed density and dry weight, and the highest yield attributes, yields, and net return of pigeonpea were obtained under weed free plot. All the herbicidal treatments significantly reduced the weed density and biomass compared to the weedy check. However, application of pendimethalin 30 EC @ 0.75 kg /ha (PE) fb Imazethapyr 10 SL @ 100 g/ha at 20–25 DAS + one inter-cultivation at 50 DAS recorded significantly higher plant height (1.82 m), pods/branch (22.96), pods/plant (206.3), weed control efficiency (84.39% at 60 DAS), grain yield (1,868 kg/ha), net return (` 87.66 x 103 /ha) and B: C ratio (3.35) over weedy check. This leads to the 61.73% higher pigeonpea grain yield over the weedy check plot. Hence it can be inferred that the ap- plication of pendimethalin 30 EC @ 0.75 kg /ha (PE) fb Imazethapyr 10 SL @ 100 g/ha at 20–25 DAS + one inter- cultivation at 50 DAS is an efficient weed control method for profitable cultivation of pigeonpea in south eastern Rajasthan.